Automobile-lock



C. R; BITTER.

AUTOMOBILE LOCK. APPLICATION FILED APR. 9, 1920.

I W/ITNE 3 3 lugs/n03 ATTORNEYS neursn era CHARLES RU? 555 BITTER,

on "get r ii A it little or risnnroier, rumors;

AUTOMOBILE-LOCK.

messes,

Application filed April 9, 1929. Serial No. 372,448.

1' all to liom it may 007106771,

Be it known that I, CHARLES R. Brown, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Freeport, in the county of Stephenson and State ofIllinois, have invented a new and improved Automobilelioclr, of whichthe following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to improvements in automobile locks, an object ofthe invention being to provide improved means for locking the steeringpost against rotary movement so that is impossible to steer the automobile, and hence, impossible to operate or drag the car away untilthe steering post is released.

A further object is to provide a simple, inexpensive form of lock whichcan be utilized in connection with any ordinary automobile and whichwillmost efliciently perform the functions for which it is intended.

With these and other objects in view the invention consists in certainnovel features of construction, and combinations and arrangements ofparts, as will he more fully hereinafter described and pointed out inthe claim.

the accompanying drawings Figure l is a fragmentary perspective viewillustrating my improved device in operation;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary plan view show ing the steering column and postin section;

Fig. 3 is a View in section on the line 3--3 of 2;

Fig. 4 is a view in section on the line l4 of Fig. 2.

'1 represents an automobile having the ordinary foot board 2 to which asteering column 3 is secured or, through which it projects, and-lis thesteering wheel located at the upper end of the column 3 and secured tothe steering post 5. V

The turning operation of the steering wheel and the post 5 operates tochange the angle of the front wheels to guide or steer the automobile asis well-known in the art. It is the purpose of my invention to provide alock, which will, when in position, prevent turning movement of thesteering post so that when a car is at rest and the wheels turned at anangle, the steering post can be secured against movement and locked insuch position to prevent theft of the car.

My improved. loci: comprises a plate 6 having a forked or bifurcated end7 adapted to straddle the column 8 as clearly shown in Fig. 52. Thisplate 6 is made near one end with a slot 8 to receive a staple 9 fixedto the foot board :2, and a pair of staples 10 are secured to the footboard and receive the beveled or tapering members 11 at the forked end 7of the plate.

A longitudinally projecting locking pin 12 is secured tofthe plate 6 andis located centrally of the forked end 7. This pin 12 is adapted to beprojected through registering openings 13 and i l in column 3 andsteering post 5 respectively, as clearly shown in Figs. 2 ant 3, so thatwhen the pin is in position, the steering post is locked against turningmovement. A padlock 15 is pro vided and is adapted to be located throughthe staple 9 andsecnre the plate 6 against removal by an unauthorizedperson.

To render the device secure, l preferably make the staples 9 and 10 inthe form of U- bolts with nuts 16 securing them in place.

The operation is as follows: When it is desired to lock the automobile,the steering wheel 'l is operated to turn the wheels at an angle, suchas is common when the automobile is brought to a rest. The forked end 7of the plate 6 is then positioned, on the column with the members lllocated in the staples 10 and the pin 19 in the openings 13 and i lrespectively of the column and the steering post. The openings 13 and14: are in the form of slots to allow for a certain angular dispositionof the plate so as to allow the same to move on and of? of the staple 9,and when in position on the staple 9 and the pm n the openin s i 13 and14, the padlock 15 is placed in locked engagement with the staple 9 andprevents removal of the locking device except by the owner with the Aroper key.

arious slight changes might be made in the general form and arrangementof parts described without departing from the invention, and hence I donot limit myself to the precise details set forth, but consider myselfat liberty to make such changes and adapted to be positioned through theopenlngs of the column and the post, devices on the footboard recelvlngthe two members of the forked end of the plate holding them againstupward movement, a hasp 0n the footboard, said plate having a slottherein receiving the hasp, and said hasp adapted to receive a lock tosecure the plate in locked engagement with the column and the steeringpost.

' CHARLES RUFUS BITTER.

